The Mistake by Elle Kennedy #Review

PJV Quickie: Count me in as an Elle Kennedy fan! With swoonworthy heroes and realistic heroines who feel like someone you could be friends with, I am really enjoying her Off-Campus series. The Mistake is a fabulous second installment that you don’t want to miss.

Review:
John Logan is a college junior; he’s also a hockey player with a good shot at going pro. Girls drop their panties when he walks by, and it seems like he’s living a charmed life. But lately he’s been miserable: He knows that after college he’s not going to play professional hockey, he’s going home to take care of his alcoholic father and run the family garage. Compounding his misery is the fact that he’s in love with his best friend’s girlfriend (Hannah from book 1, The Deal). When he accidentally ends up in a freshman dorm while looking for a party, he doesn’t expect to meet, and then disappoint, a young co-ed. His pride gets the best of him though, and he goes back to set things right.

Grace Ivers is a college freshman, generally quiet and shy. When the hunkalicious star of the hockey team shows up at her door, she’s flabbergasted. Their awkward meeting turns into an evening of watching movies and making out, but the making out part of the evening wasn’t that great. So when he shows up again, wanting to make up for the disappointing make-out session, she’s surprised (again) and acquiesces.

Unfortunately, things don’t magically fall into place for these two, and after a long, difficult summer, Logan is determined to win her back. Grace has other ideas, though, and is equally determined not to fall into his arms again just because he’s got a sexy smile and hot kisses… she needs to know she’s the only girl on his mind.

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Earlier this year I fell in love with The Deal, so when the next book, The Mistake, came up for review I couldn’t say yes fast enough. Elle Kennedy writes NA the way it should be written: her stories are sweet and tough and sexy and tender and OMG they make me feel. The relationship between Grace and Logan is hard to describe – it almost works backwards. It starts off physical but becomes emotional and the scenes where Grace makes Logan work for it provide a hilarious respite from the dark subject matter.

Logan’s character kind of sneaks up on you in The Mistake, you know he’s unhappy and he self-medicates with sex. When we see what’s going on in his life, you might as well say goodbye to your heartstrings because they’ll be pulled right out of your chest. I felt his frustration and despair, and his longing – longing for love and all the wonderful things that go along with it, and longing for a chance at living life after college and being able to pursue his dream of playing professional hockey.

Grace is an amazing heroine – at first she’s kind of a pushover but I love that she makes a conscious decision to change and take charge of her life. She stands up for herself and doesn’t apologize for it, and I think she’s fabulous.

As in The Deal, the secondary characters are funny and solid enough that you feel like you’re getting to know them along with Grace. As I finished The Mistake, I didn’t want to say goodbye to these characters – I can’t wait to see who’s book is next!

Recommendations:
Fans of Sawyer Bennett’s Cold Fury Hockey series will probably enjoy The Mistake. I’d also recommend this series to Cora Carmack’s Rusk University series fans, even though that series is football instead of hockey. If you like Contemporary Romance but don’t read New Adult, this series is a good place to start. You can read The Mistake as a standalone, but I highly recommend reading the first book in the series, The Deal, just because it’s a fabulous read.

I received this book for free from Provided by Publicist in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

College junior John Logan can get any girl he wants. For this hockey star, life is a parade of parties and hook-ups, but behind his killer grins and easygoing charm, he hides growing despair about the dead-end road he’ll be forced to walk after graduation. A sexy encounter with freshman Grace Ivers is just the distraction he needs, but when a thoughtless mistake pushes her away, Logan plans to spend his final year proving to her that he’s worth a second chance.

Now he’s going to need to up his game…

After a less than stellar freshman year, Grace is back at Briar University, older, wiser, and so over the arrogant hockey player she nearly handed her V-card to. She’s not a charity case, and she’s not the quiet butterfly she was when they first hooked up. If Logan expects her to roll over and beg like all his other puck bunnies, he can think again. He wants her back? He’ll have to work for it. This time around, she’ll be the one in the driver’s seat…and she plans on driving him wild.